May 20, 2008

ADDED: Someone other than Ryan Seacrest is saying "This is American Idol." I don't like that. I suppose it's someone famous, but I don't know who he is, and even if he's famous, he should not horn in on Ryan's territory. The Davids are introduced as if they were boxers, and DA is called "David 'Baby Face' Archuleta." Ah, here's Seacrest. That's better. Seacrest is calling them "Big David and Little David."

MORE: The ancient artifact Clive Davis made great choices. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" for David Cook, and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" for David Archuleta. I much preferred Cook, but the judges preferred Archuleta.

AND: Oh, no, they have to pick from the songs that people wrote for the show. I expect the songs to be utter crap. Cook does a song that is about "dreaming" and having "faith" in yourself — like every damned song that has ever been written for the show. Ryan tells him he was "singing your face off." Paula babbles. Simon sighs.

AND: David Archuleta is singing an idiotic song about "this moment" — an obvious attempt at recapturing the magic — feeble as it was — of the original "Moment Like This" that Kelly Clarkson sang in Season 1, so very long ago. It's funny that it has the line "Open your eyes and you'll see," when there's been such a big issue all season about Archuleta singing with his eyes closed. And now, here he is, singing it with his eyes closed. The judges are saying it's a bad song, but they take no responsibility for the horror of all these bad finale songs season after season.

AND: Finally, they can pick their own songs. David Cook is singing a song he's never done before, "The World I Know," by Collective Soul. Archuleta is doing "Imagine," which he's already done on the show — and which is also, obviously, a much more familiar song. Even before they start to sing, it seems determined: David Archuleta will win.

AND: Paula tells DC he's "standing in [his] truth." Simon tells him he made the wrong song choice. He should have sung "Billie Jean" or "Hello" — that is, one of the 2 best songs he's already done on the show. When he finished singing, Cook's eyes were all red. He cried. Does he perhaps not want to win? To use the boxing metaphors they are foisting on us: Is he taking a dive? It was my analysis this morning that it was not in Cook's interest to win. Winning would fit Archuleta's life so much better.

AND: Beautiful little David thrills us with "Imagine." Randy yells that DA is the best. Paula doesn't state that he's the best. But he's "stunning." Simon "You came out here tonight to win. And what we have witnessed is a knockout." So all is right in the world. Join hands. David Archuleta has won. And the world will be as one.

IN THE COMMENTS: I've corrected it now, but originally I typo'd the homophone "one" for "won" in the sentence, just above, "David Archuleta has won." Jokes are cracked.

When it comes down to it, music isn't about winning and knocking out the competition. Therein lies the most fundamental flaw at the cornball heart of American Idol.

That is what Cook said at the very beginning, that as far as he was concerned, the competition was over, and he was there to have fun. I have to admit that when Cook started to sing his final song, I thought the same thing that Simon said after the performance -- that the song wasn't the best choice for that moment in the competition. Cook could have come out with something that really rocked, that would have left a more obvious and memorable impression. I have to assume that the song he chose meant a lot to him. Good for him for choosing his art over the artificial demands of what is ultimately a very stupid TV show. No matter who "America" chooses, Cook has been and is the better performing artist.

Titus, no one is California dreamin' in mid-May! That's only good from about November through February. I expect more from you.

I'm so glad I skipped AI this year. I've seen some of the performances on YouTube, and haven't missed the show one bit. I hate "Imagine." Even if I could get past the insipid lyric, musically, it's just not that interesting.

DA sings Imagine, and I imagine he has no idea what its about, other than his dad told him not to sing the verse about no heaven. At least at this point Dial Idol has Cook ahead. The boxing motiff was incredibly lame, "don't use yourself up in the first round"? Why the hell not? Its a damn song, you can recover for round two in 10minutes, I'm pretty sure

Hey! I just ran into you in the aisle at Whole Foods. Weird. Anyway, I blog anonymously so I didn't want to mention it in front of my father, but here's my blog address if you're interested:http://onenewduck.blogspot.com/

I hated David Cook with a passion for most of the season, but somehow in the last little bit he's stealth grown on me. I loved David Archuleta for a lot of the season but I no longer want to put him in my pocket.

Anyone else feel like Archuleta sang that entire second song with Dad in mind? No one can take this away from me! Blah blah my own decision something something!

Archuleta has cock sucking lips, according to a friend of mine. He'll be legal in a year. I wonder how long till the gay sex, booze and drug meltdown? I'm thinking a big hit with Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus" set to a pop beat...

I'd have to agree with you Jennifer. I didn't care for David Cook at first, but liked him more as the season went on. And while I'll readily concede that David Archuleta is extremely talented and has a great voice, he just seemed to become a little boring and predictable, in my book. I don't really care who wins, either. Though this isn't the first season I felt that way. I think the more interesting question this year would be, "for which of these two would winning American Idol be a greater liability than coming in second?"

DC's performances were quite a bit better than the judges' comments would suggest. Are they trying to fix the contest so DA wins?

DialIdol.com indicated that DC has enough delegates to win the nomination. I hope so, although it would be interesting to see if DA's career arc turns out to be in any way similar to MaCauly Caulkin's, since both have overbearing fathers.

Nigel Lythgoe and Simon Fuller, AI's producers, have announced several similar programs for next television season.

Alas, America's Next Porn Star has been done. (I had that idea and then discovered some adult cable channel had done it.)

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My own gut feeling is that producers want Archuleta to win and will try to fix the vote as they clearly have in the past. Based on Dial Idol, I'm not sure they'll succeed. I suspect Cook has one every week since about week three or four. I believe the reason is simple: David Archuleta is extremely irritating in just about every way possible.

And am I the only one who finds Archuleta's version of Imagine absolutely horrible? Last night's version was especially bad. In all seriousness, had any other contestant hacked up a song like that, the judges would have been brutal.